ShiniGami
by Jazebeth
Summary: The only heir to the Vongola is dead and their world has seemingly come to an end. Shot by a mysterious bullet by a killer that eludes even the Vindice, Reborn has gotten so desperate that he brings his stupid student back from the dead. But no one knows how God's mind works and be it for the best or the worst, God has plans for the brunet. Semi-AU. Gore
1. Death 1 : Your Death

AN: There you have it, the beta-ed version. Yay!

PS:It's adult!Reborn, so it's semi-AU

Beta-ed by: Al Ilmo Noor and eclipsed flower

* * *

Chapter 1: Your Death

"Japanese"

_"Italian_"

'Shinigami Speech'

_Thoughts or Dream,_

* * *

_~Namimori, Japan~_

**'Sawada Tsunayoshi, I hope you haven't forgotten our deal.'**

Announcing the coming of a new day, the morning sun spread its smile brightly by sending warm rays of sunlight to invade every corner of the tiny town of Namimori as most of its citizens woke up cheerfully, preparing themselves for a new and lively day.

Well, _most_notincluding a certain brunet.

_Cring__! __Cring__!_

_Brak!_

"Ahh, so noisy…" groaned said brown-haired boy, still half-asleepand he mumbled and cursed at his damned alarm-clock. "It's only fucking seven o'clock! Gahh!"

How he hated getting woken up so early.

"Ugh...guess I'll just go back to sleep..." with that mumbled declaration he pulled his blanket over his head and announced to no one in particular, "I'll get up when it hits eight o'clock," before falling back asleep.

But time flew by quickly without him realizing, and Nana had already had enough from repeatedly calling outto him withoutanyresponse.

Shetried for the last time, "Tsu-kun~! You're going to be late!" without any success, so decided that she had to take drastic measures.

She went up the stairs to her son's room and poured cold water over his sleeping form and his eyes shot wide-open in shock.

"Jeez, Tsu-kun~! You're going to be late~!" Nana blinked innocently, looking to all the world as if she had not just poured cold water onto him.

"What?" he tried to process what his mother had just told finally hit him when he caught sight of his poor, abused alarm clock sitting on the night table, half-crushed. Tsuna jumped out of bed yelling, "Shit! I'm late!" and he rushed madly to the bathroom, doing whatever he needed to refresh himself with a demonic-like speed.

A few seconds away from the door, he put a piece of toast in his mouth before muttering amuffled "I'll be going!" to his mother and made his way was already halfway through the door but was suddenly held in place, by none other than his mother. Her arms tightly held him in a warm embrace

"...Don't leave me again... will you?"

Not sure how to respond to the strange request, Tsuna blinked in confusion before hesitantly returning the hug

"I...I'll never do it again mom. I promise."

Now, free of any restraints he slowly resumed his tracks before hesitantly rushing out of the Sawada residence.

_I wonder what's wrong with mom … _he thought. _Ugh_..._Never mind that! I'm sooo gonna be late!_

Later…

* * *

"Oi, Tsuna! There you are! I was won-!"

_Shit!Shit!Shit!I'm so late! __Or__ better yet, dead! Hibari's going to 'bite me to death' for sure! _thought Tsuna, running like mad in a certain middle school's direction , not even realizing that Gokudera and Yamamoto were calling for him.

"Juudaime! Wait for me!" said the bomber trying to catch up with the brunet.

"Ahaha! Wait for me too!" Yamamoto added.

* * *

~Namimori Middle School, Japan~  
~School Grounds~

"Herbivores…" The all so powerful and feared discipline committee chairman, or better known as you-know-who said smirking as he caught sight of the brunet and his two companions .

_Shit! _"Y-yes, Hibari-san…?"

"You're late," announced the raven-haired carnivore ,"Prepare to be bitten to death." And without wasting any more time, Hibari pulled his tonfas out of nowhere and charged in for the kill.

_HIIIIIIIEEEE!I knew it! _

"Che! You wanna fight, you bastard?"

_NO! Gokudera!_

"Take this!"

"HIIIIIIEEEEEEE!"

And thus, all hell broke loose and a good 30 minutes full of intense fighting took place on Namimori Middle's school grounds. The fight finally finished, the trio was walking down the hallways to their class, their faces full of bruises and their uniforms roughed up. Sliding the door to their home-room open, they were greeted by a disapproving and piercing glare, the sender of it none other than Tsuna's least favourite teacher, Nezu.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, Yamamoto Takeshi, Gokudera Hayato. You're late!" announced the old man, clearly pissed off. He made to continue, but the increasing whispers and exclamations coming from the students muffled his words.

"W-what happened with them?" asked one.  
"Who knows? Maybe they had a fight?"  
"Or maybe Hibari just bit them to death?"  
"Eeh?! No way!" someone lamely commented.

"Silence!" ordered Nezu-sensei before turning back his attention back to the three standing in the doorway.

"Do you have any idea how important the lesson you just missed is?"

"And do you have any idea how_ boring _your lessons are?" Gokudera retorted mockingly. "If you need to nag, it's that bastard's fault, Hibari. He's sure getting more annoying too! I'll make him pay for this later!" the bomber finished his rant, and a vein popped in his forehead.

"H-Hibari?"

Normally, people wouldn't survive if they made any nuisance in Namimori; suffice to say said town's middle school grounds. And if they did, they'd be lucky to just land in the hospital. Nezu, clearly aware of that, couldn't help but gape slightly, forgetting about the insult he just received from the silver-head.

"Yeah, why?" asked Gokudera like it were the most obvious thing in the world to do while insolently walking by his teacher, dragging a hesitant Tsuna with him and helping said brunette to his seat, the latter mumbling an uncertain "Thanks…" The act only intensified Nezu's anger as he burst out in a fit of rage.

"Don't ever think you're getting away with this! You three are getting detention!"

It resulted in an irritated "What the fuck?!" as a response.

And so time flew rather slowly on that boring day with nothing else happening than Gokudera later challenging the school prefect, Hibari, to a fight .The latter accepted it half-heartedly knowing that it would be the only entertainment he would get for the day.

* * *

~School Grounds, After School~

"Because of that damn teacher I'm late for my fuckin' job! " complained Gokudera, while kicking an innocent wall in the hallway. "Why did we have to stay and clean the class too, anyway?!" he questioned, veins popping out all over his face.

"Maa, maa, no point in getting angry about it~" added Yamamoto, as carefree as usual.

"Well! Of course you'd say that, since it's _your_ goddamn fault!" shouted Gokudera.

"Heh? Why is it my fault?" wondered the base-ball player innocently, which only got the bomber angrier as the number of blood veins popping on his face increased.

"Jyuudaime was 30 minutes late to home-room this morning _and_ he unjustly got detention _all_ because of you! And now, you're pretending it's not _your_ fault!" spat Gokudera.

"But~ wasn't that because you fought with Hibari this morning and then challenged him again at lunch break?"

"So it's my fault?!"

_It is! _screamed Tsuna inwardly,_ And don't use me as an argument!_. _God! _He just knew that the one-sided fight was going to end up in explosions and shouting all over the school which would lead them to another confrontation with the blood-sucking prefect. Thatwould NOT be good!

"By the way, Gokudera-kun what's your job anyway?" Tsuna interrupted the silver-head, smartly preventing a ticking bomb from exploding and destroying everything in its way.

"It's nothing much Jyuudaime, I'm just tutoring some high school students."

"Nothing much? That's awesome Gokudera-kun!" said the brunet with a wide smile.

"Y-you think so Juudaime?!"

"Of course that's really amazing Gokudera, haha" added Yamamoto, grinning cheerfully.

"Shut up baseball freak! I was talking to Jyuudaime, and I don't remember asking you for your stupid opinion!" But still the bomber couldn't stop his face from turning beet-red which called up another never-ending argument between him and Yamamoto.

Too immersed in their chit-chat, the two of them didn't take note of Tsuna's change in expression. The brunet had suddenly come to a halt when a strange sensation overtook him...

_This feeling..._

It was as if his hyper intuition was alerting him to something. It was as if it was screaming at him to _get the fuck away from there!_ Or _you're gonna be dead! _Yet he couldn't pinpoint whatever it was that seemed to endanger his live nor know how to evade it. A mixture of frustration and fear slowly ate away at him as he came to a conclusion.

Chances were, he wasn't going to escape it... Perhaps, even really_ die_...

* * *

'Are you sure it's him?'  
'Yeah! It's him! Look at his spiky brown hair!'  
'You know, it could be his twin or something...'  
'_Kami-_sama, it's him!'  
'But still, what if we get the wrong person and only realize afterwards?!'  
Silence. Then…  
"Whatever,we're hitmen. Let's just get this over with."  
"Hmm, alright." And so tightening his grip on his firearm, he positioned it to meet the target before charging and shooting.

_Bang! Bang!_

Piercing through the air as they greedily looked for living flesh to splash and mess its content around, the bullets headed straight for the sniper's prey, the latter happening to be a certain brown-haired teen. Striking said brunet's forehead and his chest, a crimson spurt of blood shot out instantly, shocking the arguing silver-head and baseball-freak as it spluttered onto their uniforms.

And with the scene of green school field grass died bloody red surrounding a certain brunet's motionless body already engraved in their minds, the duo slowly and shakily fell to their knees in shocked silence. Their minds went blank. If they had tried tracking the bullet's source they would have discovered two hired snipers hiding in Mount Namimori congratulating each other on the good work.

If only they weren't too immersed in their jumbled up thoughts they would've noticed that the decreasing in temperature was as real as the hallow creature that would certainly validate as a Shinigami embracing the brunet's body before taking enough, their beloved boss' expression was now peaceful and not as horror-stricken as it seemed to be some seconds ago. But they didn't, only waking up from their daze when it was too late.

"...J-JUUDAIME!" screamed Gokudera, his throat aching and turning dry as he called for his boss desperately, the same thingreplaying over and over again. He refused to acknowledge that the body in front of him was a corpse and stubbornly called it an injured body in his head.

_He's alive! Jyuudaime __has to be__ alive! _Yet he obviously knew even with all his denying that he wouldn't get an answer, which only added to his desperation as tears streamed down his flushed face.

"Tsu-Tsuna…" muttered Yamamoto shakily, his face pale and eyes wide with horror as he also crumbled to the ground next to the bomber. He hesitantly stretched out his hand to the brunet's blood-stained body, instantly pulling back with a shiver.

"W-what should we do…?" stuttered Yamamoto

"… I… I don't know!" snapped Gokudera, but it came out more as a whimper than anything else. Aware of that, the bomber tried to muster up a glare and snort but failed horribly.

"Herbivores… what do you think-"

Even the raven haired perfect could only stare wide-eyed at the scene in front of him, as he took in the sight of a blood soaked sniffling Gokudera holding in his embrace what seemed to be like a certain herbivore, sometimes-carnivore's, motionless corpse.

"...This...I'll catch the killer," said Hibari and he rushed out of sight.

Just as the silence got too heavy to bear, Yamamoto motionedat his phone and said, "Gokudera… I think we should tell _him_… "

Taking the bomber's silence as approval, he glanced at the living mess of blood and tears of his friend one last time before dialing_his_ number.

_Ring... Ring..._

_"What?"_

* * *

~Vongola HQ, Italy~

It was in times full of boredom like these that Tsuna proved himself quite irreplaceable, Reborn mused.

It had already been hours and his boring meeting with Vongola Nono, his Guardians, the CEDEF elites (Iemitsu, Oregano, Collonelo, Lal Mirch, and Basil) as well as the Varia Members (Squalo, Xanxus, Levi, Bel, and Fran) had yet to end.

_Ugh! How long will this meeting last? Nothing interesting has happened as of lately… how boring…_ he thought._ Guess I'll have to make it up by torturing Dame-Tsuna when I get back_.

Such a wonderful and irreplaceable personal-stress-reliever his student was.

But it didn't take long before his vibrating phone forced him out of his sadistic fantasies and a silent sigh escaping the Arcobaleno'slips.

_To answer or not to is the question_. But granted, he was bored and no one was paying attention to him anyway

..._I'll answer then__.__ S_ighing, Reborn picked up his phone, not even bothering to read the caller ID.

_"What?"_

"R-Reborn..." _Yamamoto? _he thought, surprised, noting how the Rain Guardian's voice shook with horror._This can't be good. _

"Spit it out," he ordered. Yet Yamamoto kept on hesitating, pushing Reborn to his limits in irritation and dare-he-say, worry took over him "Spit it out or you'll shit bullets for a month," he threatened coldly, and Lal Mirch and Colonello who both sat not too far from him unintentionally overheard.

_"What the hell's wrong__,__ Reborn?" _asked Lal.  
"_Yeah, tell us what's going on, __kora_!"  
"_Shut up,_" said Reborn before turning back to speak to Yamamoto. "Well, spit it out!"

"Tsuna… _he's __dead__,_" as the meaning of the words sunk in, Reborn's eyes widened, completely caught off guard. The repeated whines and callings of 'Juudaime!' by a certain silver-head, echoing in the background, erased any doubt he had that this call could be a revengeful prank from his dame-student.

And as he got to this conclusion, his hold on the phone tightened to a crushing level, breaking the poor object into tiny pieces and successfully caught the attention of the other occupants of the meeting pairs of eyes rested on Reborn,but he didn't care much about getting found out on receiving a call from someone in the middle of a meeting, as going back to Japan is had just become his first priority.

Bolting up from his seat, the SunArcobaleno rushed to the double wooden doors bordering the meeting room and the wide hall of the Vongola mansion, but before he could successfully step out to the hall Iemitsu asked, "_What happened__,__ Reborn_?"

For a second, Reborn twitched as he thought about the man's reaction upon hearing the news of Tsuna's death before deciding against it and without bothering to turn around the Arcobaleno answered in a rush,_"Don't have time to explain__, it's__ urgent"._

"_Something to do with Decimo?" _asked Timoteo with worry yet at the same time, authority filled his voice, forcing the hitman to stop in his tracks and turn around to answer.

_"Yes."_

"_What?! What happen to Tsuna_?!" shouted Iemitsu, slamming his hand on the meeting table, his face twisted in anger and fear.

This was exactly one of the reasons why he didn't want Iemitsu to know. Not sure how to word it, Reborn stood silent for a few minutes, before saying, "_You're__ not __goingto__ like it…"_

_"Just tell us, kora!"_

_"He's right__,__ Reborn. You can't keep it to yourself" _Lal added as well.

After silently thinking for a moment the hitman finally spoke up.

"_Tsuna…_"

"_Yeah, what about him_?"

_"He's __dead__"_

And then, silence…


	2. Death 2 : Meeting

Chapter 2 : Meeting

" Japanese "  
"_Italian (and some flashback)_"  
"**Shinigami lang**"

"_**Another (creature)" **_later chapters

Disclaimer : why would I bother writing this fic if I did own KHR?  
Warning: some cursing, light gore, undead creature, OOCness and plenty of randomness.

AN: Sorry for the late update (oops). well, Lets move on shall we?

Beta-ed by : Al Ilmo Noor

* * *

Previously…

"_Something to do with Decimo?"_

"_you're not gonna like it…"  
_

_"Just tell us, kora!"  
_

_"He's right Reborn. You can't keep it to yourself"_

"_Tsuna...**He's Dead**"_

* * *

_**Chapter 2 : Meeting**_

* * *

~Unknown Realm~

_woosh._

His ears ringing painfully as his whole body squirmed under the harsh pressure caused the wind, he closed his eyes tightly in pain, slightly aware of a sick numbness in the midsection of his gut slowly spreading to over take his whole body.

_Thump._

Finally reaching solid ground, the numbness subsided after a matter of seconds leaving a shooting pain to invade his senses and a sever need for air, forcing him to choose between furiously grinding his teeth together in an effort to lessen the pain or to widely gape and swallow up as much air as possible to fill up his crushed lungs. Tsuna wisely deciding for the latter.

Now feeling about actionable , the brunette tried sitting up struggling to stop an ear-deafening yelp from escaping him "Ouch!" in vain._ T__hat really hurts!_ He thought, rubbing his poor aching butt. But before he could even take the new scenery full of grey in , or even note the emptiness of it He felt his hand touch something sharp and solid, his brown eyes going wide as he turned around to see what it was…

_…Bones. _

Human bones and skeletons, scattered in every direction , giving the empty space of a gray a certain feeling of

...**fullness**...

"HIEEEE!" not bothering to hide his horror and surprise, Tsuna shouted on the top of his lungs, stumbling as he tried backing away from the pile of bones beside him. instinct took over his mind he started running at full speed in the opposite direction his feet shaking and faltering while he struggled to keep himself from collapsing, his body still suffering the after effects of his contact with the ground some moments ago. But it didn't take long before the pain turned insupportable and he started faltering in his steps even tripping every then and now unable to evade the piling and augmenting number of scattered skeletons in his way.

Finally succumbing to the pain near a leafless and seemingly lifeless tree ,the plant reminding him of those spooky trees he finds in horror films, he forced himself to rest .His mind still ringing and body still slightly trembling from the shock.

And finally calm he rolled his eyes around to observe his surroundings only now wondering, _where the hell am I? _Closing his eye lids hard as he tried to remember how he even got here or why he was falling from mid-air only what he judged to be half an hour ago, he felt a sharp ringing invade his ears as a cruel head-ache over threw his mind in turmoil before it subsided leaving bitter-sweet memories to flash before him.

"_Gyahaha! Dame-Tsuna! Gimme candy!"_

_"I'll do whatever it takes to protect you, Juudaime!"_

___"Haha, that's a fun game!Can i join?"_

"_Thank you, Tsu-kun"_

"_Tsuna-san sugoi!"_

"_THAT WAS EXTREME, SAWADA!"_

A soft smile tugging at his lips, he felt a sense of warmth over flow his body sending off butterflies in his stomach. His face even heating at a certain "_Bossu is so kind…" __  
_

"_Dame-Tsuna, fight for it with your dying will."_

"_I'll bite you to death."_

"_kufufu, It's also my duty to__ check on and_ keep this body in good shape for future possession plans~"

And yet even though those not so warm and pleasant moments induced spooky chills of disgust and fear to run through his body, the smile on his face never subsided. That, before the sudden **blood stained memory** of a sharp pain in his chest and head resurfaced making his eyes shoot open and expression twist. _Right, i **died** didn't i ?_ It was no wonder he couldn't control the tears that followed that conclusion. _I'm never going to see them, aren't I? _even grinding his teeth furiously to stop himself from letting out a pathetic whimper. _Why did this have to happen?!WHY?!_

"_**Poor boy, let me ease you out of your pain and erase it all for you****…"**_ A gentle voice whispered softly taking back the sobbing brunette who immediately bolted up from his sitting position to face the source of it.

"Who's there?" Tsuna asked,his voice slightly wavering. But no answer came making him even more anxious as he warily glanced at his surroundings. A sudden feeling of uneasiness overwhelmed his gut. _This feeling..._he concluded_, _it was telling him to run away fast. Yet just as _last time_, he had no idea what he was supposed to run away from or where to. This only augmenting his fear.

It was at that moment that a piece of black clothing, hanging on a branch of the leafless spooky tree caught his attention. His fear and anxiously for a moment forgotten as a childish curiosity took over him, he approached it to take a closer look.

And scanning the black cloth carefully he noted how it seemed to shape _a certain body's frame...? _But he was already too close to danger when the strange clothe moved over to reveal a number of bones sticking out of it as some raven wings also took place on its back, a skeletal head on top of it grinning maliciously. _Holy shit!_

But again it was too late to try running now as the flying skeleton in dark clothes made its way towards him in a predatory way, catching him before he could even take a step back.

"GAHHH!" He let out an ear deafening scream as he got pulled up from the ground, his feet dangling down. _I'm dead! _But just as he started trying to struggle free,the strange creature emitted some sort of black flames, the latter somehow making him feel dizzy and blurring his vision. Slowly he fell to the darkness slightly, his last memory, the widening smirk on the skeleton's flame emitting face.

_**Perfect.**_

* * *

Brown eyes slowly peered open, as said spiky haired brunette finally came back to his feeling dizzy,he absent-mindedly rolled his eyes around to observe his surroundings. _An endless overflowing field grey, _he mused, _the after world..._

But just as his sight rested on a certain black clothed figure he bolted up from his lying position in shock and fear. His eyes wide open, warily observing the figure for any movement. But just as it indeed came closer to him, he found himself gone rigid from fear, unable to run away or even utter a single protest for that matter. _NO NO NO NO!_Someone help him! _I'm going to die !...AGAIN ! And it's going to be even more painful this time ! _ He doesn't want to get his blood sucked out of him for the spooky creature to use as bath-water nor does he want to get carved, teared up and then served as a dinner if not a desert to- _GAHHHH!STOP THINKING ABOUT IT ! _He inwardly screamed, shutting tightly his eyes as the dark clothed creäture seemed to prepare itself to launch at him.

Really, he should have stopped watching Reborn's horror movies.

B-But still ,i-is it really going to eat him?

_No, stupid-Tsuna… It won't do so, no ones for that matter would ever want to eat you… It's obvious that you'll taste horrible and you're also pretty much skinny. Together that makes a major turn-off for any predator._ An inner much calmer voice commented monotony.

_B-But then, i remember Reborn telling me something like"if you don't make sure this pepper spray is always by your side, those pedophiles will eat you…"…And I don't have it on me now!_

_Bah~ whatever, this one here isn't going to do anything to you…_

_..._

And after some harsh thinking Tsuna finally noted that strangely nothing is happening. So slowly and warily he peered his eyes open to look at his predator, the spooky creäture now replaced with an exact older version of a certain read-head friend of his in well, dark clothes, the incredulity of this whole situation making him frown as he furiously blinked his eyes. Yet everything was well too real and the brunette couldn't help but shout in disbelieve as his face twisted in a what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here-expression.

"Enma-kun?!"

"Enma? Who's Enma?" the redhead asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Eh? If you're not Enma…" he paused, thinking _really_ hard of the possibilities _"…then… WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"_ he inwardly completed.

The redhead, on the other hand, was as well confused by the sudden appearance of a Giotto look-alike who strangely seemed perfect for a shouting-girly-soon-to-be-mafia-boss role out of a gag series with something along the lines of 'I'll kill Reborn for sure' or something as a unfulfilled dream... He should probably stop watching those mafia animes... But back to the point, the brunette had some incredible striking features that resembled Giotto's like he's expressions and that hair style for example...

"Hey…" the redhead finally spoke pulling Tsuna out of his jumbled up thoughts.

"W-What?" the little tuna asked, staring at the read-head with honest innocent yet slightly fearful brown orbs while said read-head could only gulp face at such a perfect little cute kitty expression, a nervous laugh escaping him. He hated that face ,_e__specially when a certain blonde was involved be it directly or not…_ And he suddenly shuddered at the thought, getting himself back together before turning his attention back to the brunette.

"Well ,i was wondering who you might be…" he answered in a soft voice afraid that he might have unconsciously scared the brunette before, judging by the latter's expression ..._since you look like him_… He inwardly completed.

"That's supposed to be my line!" _eh?_...seems like he did scare him indeed..._well, I will have to gain his trust back then.  
_

"Oh right! Sorry about that, my name's Cozart Shimon." he added pointing to himself sheepishly.

"...T-Tsuna, Tsunayoshi."

~Later…~

Briefly and warily answering the now named Cozarto Shimon's questions about why he was there, he explained how suddenly and strangely he somehow got stuck in this seemingly dead space or better yet 'Afterlife' world not knowing how or why, carefully leaving out anything to do with his life-time and his meeting with the spooky skeleton earlier... If the latter did really take place...

"Is that so?" The read-head wondered out loud playfully, making Tsuna wonder if he did really catch him looking seriously thoughtful for a moment there.

Sigh.

"Well, normally after getting trapped here,you're not supposed to take a long time before **_departing_** and going off to reincarnate."

"Oh! But, does that also go the same for you... I mean,you seems to know pretty much everything about this place, and what about your strange pair of wings anyway?" Added the brunette with confusion, looking thoughtful. But it didn't take long for him, just as he said those words, to make sense of it .

He added once again slightly embarrassed to only have realized this, after already asking the red-head, pointing out his index finger rudely "Could it be you're a shinigami?!"succesfully taking back Cozarto by his sudden out burst .

"...Yeah, something like that…" The read head smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. _well, I hope he understand what it means to **depart**. _He mentally added. This boy seems pretty much clueless, after all. _I guess it won't hurt if i tried helping him reincarnate. _Just a bit.

"Oh, also you will need to _depart_ before it's too late._..._And _you need to do it fast__." He completed in a warning tone, making Tsuna flinch and nod his head hesitantly. __W-what does he mean by that?_

"Good," he smiled again. "Now then , i'm afraid i have some stuff urgent business to take care of."-namely _collecting souls_ he mentally added, turning around his heels to leave but just in time he remembered something."And, if you hear some strange voices, just ignore them and you'll be okay."

And so he left, leaving our poor Tsuna to stared dumbly at his disappearing figure.

_Okay, let's do this!_

* * *

**~Human World, Rome, Italy. Three days later…~**

* * *

"_Boss._"

Slowly looking up from his paper work ,he turned around to face his subordinate, an interrogating look on his face.

"_It's about **That**_. _I got hold of a report clearing the situation up._"

A smile tugging at his lips he took hold of the mysterious folder not forgetting to courteously mumble a soft 'thanks' in return. But just as he started reading through it, confusion and disbelieve twisted his expression making him recheck and carefully re-read through each word, over and over to make sure his eyes weren't playing any tricks on him.

"_Impossible_..." he mumbled. It was too good to be true."I can't believe it!" But slowly his disbelieve and surprise turned to amusement as dark chuckles escaped his lips and he quickly turned his attention to the innocent cell phone sitting in the drawer, grabbing it to dial a certain number.

"_Prepare the meeting room,_" he ordered glancing at his watch. "_We're having a guest, today._"

* * *

**~Sawada Residence, Namimori, Japan. Next Day~**

* * *

It's been four days already, and the unusual calmness that took residence in the Sawada household has yet to disperse making oblivious house wife Nana gravely worried. And the grimness that twisted each of Reborn and Bianchi's expressions every time she would catch herself asking them about when he's coming back from his stay with Gokudera for their school project or even saying her son's name in a comment, didn't ease her one bit.

But it's not like any of them could help it, really, not that they would ever tell the gentle brunette why. So in response to their refusal to do exactly that, Nana decided to take matters into hand. And on a certain night, she made her way through the living room to the sun arcobaleno's side, softly patting him on the shoulder and forcing his attention from the news paper in his hands to her.

"Ne, Reborn-kun?" she started with soft voice, her hand now resting on the fedora wearing hitman's shoulder in an almost comforting gesture.

"What is it, Maman?" he asked fainting ignorance while very well expecting her next words.  
"Well it's about Tsu-kun...I know I shouldn't bother him when he's doing his best to complete his school project but i can't help getting worried..." _Just as I thought. _He inwardly commented.

"No need to, Dame-Tsuna can very well take care of himself and if not Gokudera is still there ."

Humming thoughtfully, the brunette stood silent for a moment before pursing her lips in dissatisfaction and adding."Well that's true but… Reborn-kun, can't you at least try checking on him? You know how clumsy Tsu-kun can get~"

Sigh.

"Alright , maman."

Putting his newspaper down he stood up re-adjusting his fedora and his black suit, a yellow button up dress under it tucked neatly in his pants, before casually hanging a black scarf on his neck and making his way out to the icy cold streets leaving a satisfied Nana behind.

_Well, I was planning to check up on Gokudera anyway_. He sighed again. _That idiot… _he thought bitterly, really, who in their right mind would be that attached to their boss to the point of stubbornly refusing to give away his corpse and instead keep it in their apartment? Not that Reborn couldn't understand how hard it is on him or how vulnerable pathetic and useless he's feeling for failing to protect his beloved boss..._or student in my case._...

Pulling his fedora down to cover his pain twisted expression the hitman frowned. Let's just hope Gokudera does get his hands on something to help them with investigating those behind this whole mess... If he doesn't turn suicidal that is. Because if he does so, he'll be in for a grief consultation with Reborn. The hitman's eyes glinting evilly at the thought ,he was too preoccupied to notice a mysterious lone figure standing on a not so far rooftop, its cloak flowing gently against the night breeze .

~XPOV~

Observing Reborn, I silently followed him to that dogy's house jumping from roof to roof, a frown twisting my face. _Why the hell am I doing this job again?_ I halted when an image of certain Ice flame user popped on my mind. _Lesson one; Don't end up owing someone if you're sure they'll force you to repay it especially if said someone was known for his sadistic tendencies...__How troublesome… _I thought.

And suddenly the fedora wearing hitman spun his body around to stare at my previous hiding spot making me slightly tense. But Luckily, I had enough time to re-blend in the shadow. _Heh, too slow for the number one Hitman. _Said sun arcobaleno standing there for a moment before turning around and retracing his tracks to the dogy's appartement.

And finally when he reached his destination the hitman knocked waiting for a response, the door opening minutes later revealing complete darkness.

_So goddamn annoying._ If only I didn't lower my guard back then I wouldn't owe that ice bastard and get stuck with this fucking annoying task!

* * *

_**~Shinigami's Realm~**_

* * *

Second after second. Minute after minute. Then hour after hour. How long has it been since he appeared here ? days? Perhaps even weeks? He could never know as this place seemed to lack the necessary order of day and night he was so accustomed to when he _was_ alive, turning him time numb.

he was getting tired of the same never-ending fields of gray filled with scattered piles of bones and skeletons, of the weird floating cloaks with their sharp, shiny weapons. The monotone of it all making him feel even more so desperate to get out of here. And he started trying to, fruitlessly hoping that if he flew far up enough using his dying will he'll escape, deluding himself that everything was a prank played by Reborn as some survival test. But every failure only increased his desperation and angst to the point of resorting to self harm.

_Depart as in **Die**_. That's what that Cozarto Shimon told him he'll have to do to reincarnate, right? And he'll exactly do that.

The first time he was unsure, trembling and sobbing as he reached for his neck, hoping it'll be over soon as he started squeezing with all his might. Yet there was no pain. Nothing. And by some sadistic magic he got resurrected.

The second time, he was less scared but more so desperate as he hesitantly crushed his throat ripping every once of air out of it. Again not an ounce of pain as he opened his eyes to find himself resurrected once again.

And with time as failure upon failure piled up he turned more furious and gory in his methods only slightly blinking when he used some sharp scattered bones to behead himself and afterwards rip his heart. _It's not like it hurts anyway._ Sometimes he would question, When did he turn numb to the pain?...when?

And now, wondering aimlessly through the scattered piles of bones he felt his legs give up as he collapsed on the hard ground with a harsh 'thud', darkness obscuring his vision as two dark cloaked figures wearing a metallic mask each advanced to him to look at his motion-less body.

"**Is he injured?"** One of them asked with concern filling his voice. The language sounding foreign to the half-conscious brunette who strangely could understand what was being said. A sense of familiarity ringing through his mind.

"**Of course not, idiot."** The other muttered annoyed.

"**But, he looks unwell to me…" **

**"Are you serious? We're on Shinigami's realm, he's probably departing to re-incarnate, idiot.**"

"**But!"**

"**You know what? Injured or whatever he'll eventually end up departing later,so stop worrying so much." **And sounding even more annoyed than earlier, the voice continued **"Right now, we have the top priority to bring some newcomer that seems to have arrived earlier than we expected."**

"**But, we can't just leave him here!" **The first again one protested.  
**"Alright! Do whatever the fuck you want. But don't come crying to me if the brat decides to kill you" **was the other's replies, the wavering in his voice proving that he indeed did care about his friend.

And so grabbing the half-unconscious boy, the dark clothed figure of what said brown-haired teen judged to be the caring one swung his hand around the brunette's shoulder to make sure the latter wouldn't fall out.

If only they knew that the brunette was actually victim of a certain redhead's stupidity…

If only…

* * *

**AN**: well,that's it for the 2nd chapter... really, I've been re-writing this chapter for the 4th time and now it makes sense...

Don't worry, secret will be revealed on later chapters...

Review would be nice ^^


	3. Death 3 : Tormentor

**I don't know what the hell's wrong with me... *Sigh***

**Warning; Gore **

**Beta-ed by eclipsed flower**

* * *

Chapter 3: Tormentor

The door to Hayato's apartment opened with a slightly creepy sound that usually made people shudder, but not Reborn, though. After a few moments he knocked on the door, a certain silver-haired head popped out from the slightly open door like a ghost stalking its prey.

However, none of it scared Reborn; he wasn't world's number one hitman for nothing.

Gokudera's expression showed a hopeless feeling of 'the world is ending and no one can stop it'. Reborn had seen worse than that. They stared at each other for several minutes before Reborn decided to barge in.

The room was poorly lit, making it hard to see, but it was enough for his trained eye to see through the room. The gloomy aura that radiated from the silver head gave it a spooky feeling. There was a room to the right that radiated the smell of…

…. Death.

Reborn stalked slowly towards that door. The nauseous scent of many flowers soon met his nostrils and he could easily identify some of them. Roses, lilies, lavenders and some other flowers that simply made him dizzy. He wondered why it smelled like a funeral.

Slowly, he twisted the doorknob open, revealing a lone coffin filled with flowers. He took his fedora off and gave it to Hayato, who was silently following behind him closely. He took the hat and placed it on the night table that was sitting innocently beside the door. Usually, Reborn would shoot whomever who was near him, but this time it was an exception.

Reborn then walked slowly but surely, afraid of what he would see, even though he had already visited a couple of times. He just couldn't bring himself to face the reality. He thought back on what Yamamoto told him, that they were unable to protect their boss, friend and student from a mere assassination attempt. Reborn shook with anger, he couldn't believe that he; the number one hitman in the world, had failed. Had failed to protect his student and raise him into a fine mafia boss. He finally reached the foot of the coffin, and his eyes went straight to the lone figure that was lying inside it.

Gokudera looked on at the scene in front of him. Reborn was caressing Tsuna's temple where the bullet hit, leaving a disturbing big hole that could be seen through. He could feel the killing aura released from Reborn, could tell well enough that this man in front of him could kill a person without a reason. That was what his aura shouted out to the world: 'back off, I'm not in the mood to deal with you.'

Gokudera then remembered that when he was cleaning Tsuna's body; he had found the bullet. At first glance, it looked like the usual sniper bullet, but upon closer inspection, there were faint traces of a bluish indigo that was erupted from the bullet, and made him think twice, considering a mist user.

However, when he asked for Chrome's help, using Daemon's Devil lens – not that he would admit it was useful, but for the sake of his boss, he would do anything – she said it wasn't a mist flame user. What if it was some enemy Famiglia that was developing a new element? Or was it a multi flame user? So many thoughts flew through his mind, and some of it didn't even make sense but this was the mafia world that he was talking about.

"Gokudera," his head snapped towards the hoarse voice near the coffin. The hitman was pretty aware of what Gokudera was thinking, he knew of the thoughts that were bothering Gokudera for a while now. The raven gave a nod of confirmation to Gokudera, as if he already knew the silveret's concerns.

Nodding, the silveret rummaged through his pants pocket to search for the deadly, but deceptively innocent-looking bullet that was removed from Tsuna's head. When he found it, he gave it to Reborn, and he examined the bullet for awhile before facing Gokudera.

"What's with this?" He held the bullet at eye level. The bullet was around two inches in length, and had some dried blood on the end of it.

Reborn could feel an unfamiliar flame emitting faintly from the bullet. _The same flame he felt from Tsuna's _corpse…

"Gokudera, tell the other Guardians to gather at Tsuna's house tomorrow. Don't be late or I'll personally hunt you down."

Gokudera gulped as he forced a large lump down his throat, before nodding in understanding. Satisfied, the raven stalked towards the table where his fedora sat, and tucked it on before leaving the apartment without saying a word.

Gokudera stared dumbly at the empty space where Reborn had been last seen. It was like Reborn had gotten a hold of _more _information from just a mere glance at the bullet than his endless hours of research? _What had just happened?_

* * *

**_Tokyo, Japan. Abandoned Warehouse. Midnight _**

A figure was walking to his destination with ease, considering he always went there to have _fun._ People didn't know what he was doing there, so he let his guard down every time he went there. Soon enough, he would regret such a stupid move.

He slid the metal doors open, revealing a scarred teen in the middle of dead bodies. He stared at the bodies that were twisted in different directions, some had their head ripped off from the throat down to the abdomen, and the cuts weren't clean, making it looked like a dull blade was forcefully shoved into the body, completely decimating the flesh.

It revealed guts and internal organs, letting them spread everywhere like a huge mess. Some bodies were mutilated into tiny pieces, some were perfectly fine barring the fact that the head was crushed, letting the brain leak out like crushed jelly, and eyes hang out of their sockets, some of them still attached, and they looked like a pair of bells, he noted. Some were even skinned down to the bones, some of them snapped like a stick and some of them were reduced to bone, some were burned making the room stink the disgusting smell that was rotten burned flesh.

His sight fell onto his newest prey, and her eyes told him that she was scared shitless.

He smirked at the new victim that he had picked up that very morning. She had dark brown hair that was tied in a high pony-tail. Her hand and legs were tied up so she couldn't run away, and her mouth was gagged so that she couldn't scream for help.

He approached the girl who visibly tensed, and his grin grew even wider. When he was only a foot away from the girl, he kneeled down and caressed her chin, lifting it up so he could see into her eyes clearly.

"You have beautiful eyes…" he whispered to himself as his other hand began to make its way to her gagged mouth. She trembled even more when she heard those words. That mean the was going to kill her… right? Seeing the terrified face, he softened his voice so that he didn't scare the teen anymore than she already was. Playing with an unconscious toy was no fun when they couldn't scream their heads off.

"I'm not going to kill you…" he said to the girl, "I will release you after I'm done with my business, okay?" he then to took a pocket knife and began to tear the cloth, damaging some part of her face.

"What a shame," he said; somewhat disappointed that another toy was _damaged_. "I was planning on leaving your face but now that it's damaged," he stopped mid-way, "Well, let's begin."

He smirked and drew the knife close to her eye.

The sharp, pointy thing was few millimetres away from her left eye when it suddenly became buried deep inside, below the eyelid. The hoarse scream that tore out of her mouth made the man in front of her smirk maliciously. He moved the knife to the side of the brown eyeball, and cut it cleanly. Blood flowed like a river from the corner of her eyes. He moved the knife deeper into her eye like he was skinning and animal. Cutting away most of the jelly substance from her face, he plucked the perfectly oval eyeball out. He squeezed it, and found it amusing when the eyeball popped, some strangely colored fluids flowing out of it.

The girl began to sob, mourning the loss of her eye. She clutched her hand, regretting everything now, if only she had listened to Nana's warning about the serial killer, she wouldn't be here. Tsuna had been the other _victim_ from this whole murder crap.

"Let me go…" she whined. The other had promised to let her go if he was done with his fucking business. The man looked at the girl like she had grown another head.

"I did say that, but I'm not _done_ with you…" as he was about to go for the other eye, the door to the warehouse opened with a loud of bang. Smoke filled the entire facility, and when the smoke cleared, a figure with a huge cross-like weapon appeared. Most of his body was covered by a cloak except for a huge pair of raven wings that were fully extended to scare his opponent. "W-Who are you?" His stutter betrayed his fear, but it was pretty understandable, the thing looked like the Grim Reaper.

"Mario van Dem," the figure addressed simply, and Mario could feel the thing smirk under the hood that was preventing him from seeing the figure's face. "Or should I say…" he paused "…_Shinigami_?" The other smirked; the man was a fake shinigami, unlike himself who could _kill_ without leaving any _evidence_. It was an easy task, really. Considering that the blond friend of his would make him take care of the _guest_. He sighed; he would make sure the blond man would pay for it.

He took several steps towards Mario who instinctively threw his knife that he was holding with perfect accurate, aiming for the cloaked figure's temple. The other simply ducked when the flying projectile passed his upper head, tearing the hood he wore to prevent the others to see his face, revealing crimson compass-like irises. He smirked, it looked like he would be having fun.

Mario visibly tensed. Those eyes… his boss had warned him about the _real _shinigami and to not let his guard down if he met one of them. '_This one is the 'Torment' type… _he mentally cursed. _Real _shinigami had weapons that identified _their _kind. Unfortunately, he had come across the most troublesome kind of them.

"I have come here to punish you, according to _the _law," the redhead started. "You killed 23 innocent souls and severely injured one," he hissed. He drew the thick metal cross from his back, swinging it sideways, adjusting to the weight. Without wasting another second, he leaped towards the still, terrified criminal and the blunt side of his cross met the right side of Mario's neck, and continually added pressure in the same move. The damage was enough to make blood spill from Mario's mouth, but not enough to kill him. He was called the 'Tormentor' for a reason.

_That was quick._

As the now unconscious body slid through the floor, knocking some barrels down along the way, Cozart made his way towards the teen that was on the verge of passing out. The redhead would continue his tormenting session with the man later. He approached the trembling brunette, asking what her name was and she answer with a weak whisper-like 'Miura Haru'. Cozart nodded and ripped her sleeve and proceeded to bandage her eye so that she wouldn't lose too much blood.

"I'm going to erase your memory about this," he whispered. He would only erase the memory about him and the existence of shinigami. A nod of approval came from her and he placed his hand on her temple. He closed his eye to concentrate and his hand began to glowing faintly of red, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

He was about to pick the girl up when suddenly he felt another presence behind him. He turned around to see who the intruder was and soon regretted it. _He_ was standing there, the one who betrayed the Vongola, the one that turned _his_ back at him, the one who changed the history…

"Gerard…"


End file.
